Lewis Hamilton eclipsed Max Verstappen during final practice for Formula 1’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina.
Hamilton clocked a time of 1:23.274 – despite a moment through Turn 12 – to open a sizeable advantage at the front of the field.
Hamilton aborted another push lap following errors at Turn 1 and Turn 5 and subsequently expressed his frustration about overheating rear tyres.
Verstappen languished off the pace, having pulled out of a flying lap, criticising a lack of turn-in at the end of the back straight.
But Verstappen improved soon after to finish 0.214s behind his title rival.
Both qualifying and the grand prix will take place at twilight, when cooler air and track temperatures are expected to prevail.
Team-mates third and fourth
The role of their respective team-mates may yet play a role in the outcome of this weekend’s race and title.
Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez finished third and fourth respectively, albeit seven-tenths off Hamilton’s benchmark, split by just 0.022s.
Lando Norris took fifth place for McLaren while Yuki Tsunoda continued his comparatively strong weekend display so far by classifying sixth, in front of AlphaTauri team-mate Pierre Gasly.
Carlos Sainz was the lead Ferrari driver in eighth position, with team-mate Charles Leclerc at the foot of the top 10, as the pair were split by McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo; all three used Mediums for their best laps.
Alpine, which showed strong speed on Friday, had a low-key final session, as Esteban Ocon placed 12th while Fernando Alonso was 15th, both running Mediums for their quickest efforts.
Saturday’s qualifying session is scheduled for 17:00 local time.
[motorsport_result id=’78307′]
Their lab testing is structured to mirror anomaly detection techniques used in deep-space signal monitoring.